Opinion
S6 03 Cr. 879 (LAK).
January 5, 2005
Dear Judge Kaplan:
We write to respectfully request an adjournment of the trial in the above-referenced matter currently scheduled for January 10, 2005. The Government was informed this morning that an essential witness for the Government, as well as a second potential witness, are unavailable because of a newly-issued quarantine at the Metropolitan Detention Center (the "MDC"). According to information from the MDC (which is attached for the Court's information), the current quarantine is expected to last until at least January 24, 2005.
We have spoken to Eric Sears, Elizabeth Macedonio, and Patrick Joyce, defense counsel for the three remaining defendants, and they have informed the Government that they consent to the Government's requested adjournment. In an effort to help the Court determine an appropriate adjourned date for the trial in the event that Your Honor approves the Government's request, Mr. Sears requested that the Government inform the Court that he is unavailable from January 25, 2005 through February 13, 2005 due to state court commitments, and from February 18, 2005 through February 28, 2005 due to personal commitments; Ms. Macedonio requested that the Government inform the Court that she is unavailable beginning March 28, 2005 for approximately three weeks due to a trial before the Honorable Leonard D. Wexler, Eastern District of New York, and for two weeks beginning April 25, 2005 due to two scheduled trials before the Honorable Chief Judge Michael B. Mukasey and the Honorable Harold Baer, Jr.; and Mr. Joyce requested that the Government inform the Court that he is unavailable beginning January 31, 2005 for approximately four weeks due to a trial before the Honorable Shira A. Scheindlin.
With the consent of defense counsel, the Government respectfully requests that in the event the Court grants the requested adjournment, the time from today, January 5, 2005, through the adjourned date for the trial, be excluded under the Speedy Trial Act, pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 3161(h)(3) and, in the interests of justice, pursuant to Section 3161(h)(8).
SO ORDERED.